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Trump judicial nominee Thomas Farr has a razor-thin margin of error on his path to confirmation; 49 Democrats oppose him and at least one Republican is refusing to vote for him. | Alex Brandon/AP photo

Senate moves forward with controversial Trump judicial pick

The Senate on Wednesday advanced a controversial Trump judicial nominee who has faced strong criticism over his record on voting rights.

In a 51-50 vote, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie, the Senate agreed to move forward on the nomination of Thomas Farr, who President Donald Trump nominated to become a district judge in North Carolina.

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All 49 Senate Democrats andSen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) voted against proceeding. Flake has vowed to block all judicial nominees until Republican leadership brings to the floor legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller.

There was uncertainty that Farr would advance in the days leading up to the vote, and the vote itself was infused with drama after Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who hadn't publicly announced his support, was almost an hour late to the vote.

Now that Farr has cleared Wednesday's key procedural vote, he could be confirmed as early as this week.

Democrats have criticized Farr for defending a North Carolina voter ID law that an appellate court struck down for targeting African-Americans with “almost surgical precision.” He is also criticized for working as a lawyer for former Sen. Jesse Helms in 1990. At the time, the Helms campaign sent postcards targeting African-American voters that suggested they were not eligible to vote. In addition to the postcard controversy, Helms, a segregationist, opposed the Civil Rights Act when he was a senator.

Democrats had hoped Sens. Susan Collins of Maine or Lisa Murkowski of Alaska could be swayed to vote against Farr, yet both voted to move forward with his nomination.

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Collins said Tuesday she would support Farr, citing his receipt of the “highest rating” from the American Bar Association and support from Kathy Ruemmler, who served as White House counsel to former President Barack Obama.

In addition, Collins said Farr had assured her he played no role in Helms’ sending of postcards during his 1990 reelection campaign.

“He in fact told me he was disgusted by it,” Collins said. “He clearly played no role in drafting it, approving it or even seeing it before it was sent.”

Democrats blasted Farr’s record on voting rights at a news conference Tuesday and blamed Republicans for keeping Farr’s seat open for 12 years by blocking two women who Obama nominated to the court.

“The nomination of Farr is despicable itself,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. “A vote for Mr. Farr is a vote to institutionalize an ideology that believes certain American citizens have no right to vote.”

But Democrats acknowledged that blocking Farr’s confirmation would be an uphill battle. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said Tuesday that he didn’t have “any confidence” but would still push as hard as possible to block Farr.

"I think that we need to do everything we can,” he said. “ This is a person who really has a cynical view on voting rights and has done things in his past, I believe, to undermine them. And I think that this is something that we have to just try. So we'll see what happens."